Perfect or Real, You Can't Have Both
by driver picks the music
Summary: Anja, human, wife and mother? Anja opens her eyes to a whole different life. Is this a dream, or is she finally awake?


**This is a one shot based on the wonderfully awesome series of books! I wrote it for a contest that the author, Lisa Olsen, is having.**

**This has no defined timeline, it's just somewhere in the last couple of books.**

**I do not own these books, or Dr. Who, I'm only burrowing these characters.**

* * *

Anja woke up and smiled at the smell of the coffee brewing in the kitchen. She rolled over and grabbed Bishops pillow and buried her face into it and breathed in his scent that still clung to it.

She pulled it away from her face as she sat up and frowned at it. Something wasn't right. But she only had a moment to think about it before a little blond haired girl came bouncing into the room and dove onto the bed with her.

"Mama!" she squealed as she threw her arms around Anja's neck. "Daddy said not to wake you up, but you're already awake!"

Anja smiled and hugged her daughter. "Oh sweetheart, good morning." She said.

Anja looked up at the sound of a chuckle and saw Bishop standing in the doorway to the bedroom, steaming coffee cup in hand.

"Sarah Jane, what did I tell you?" he asked, a soft smile on his face belying the stern tone he used.

"She was already awake." Sarah Jane said.

Bishop only chuckled again as he shook his head and walked into the room to hand Anja the cup. "Just the way you like it." He smiled.

Anja smiled as he leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the lips, causing Sarah Jane to giggle.

Bishop sent the child a mock glare and told her to go get dressed. "Mama has things to do today and so do we." He said, shooing her off the bed. "We have to get moving or you'll be late for school."

Sarah Jane smiled sweetly up at her father. "Can I watch Dr. Who while I get dressed?" she asked.

Bishop rolled his eyes but nodded. "Yes, just don't get distracted and forget what you're doing like last time." He said.

Sarah Jane ran from the room and he looked at Anja, smiling as she sipped her coffee. "Of all the things to get from you, and she picked your love of Dr. Who."

Anja only shrugged, smile still in place. "She may love the Doctor, but she's a true Brown Coat at heart."

Bishop sighed. "There's no fighting it is there?" he asked and Anja shook her head. "You better get up and moving to or you'll be late for school as well, and it always looks bad when the teacher is late." He said.

Anja saluted him with her cup. "Yes sir."

With one last kiss and an eye roll, Bishop left the room to make sure Sarah Jane was actually getting dressed.

Anja watched after him with a smile on her face, but still, something didn't seem quite right. She couldn't place her finger on it, but something was off.

Suddenly feeling panic creep up her throat, she threw the blanket off and stood up, looking around the room. "This isn't right, this isn't real." She said.

"Bishop!" she yelled.

"Anja."

"Bishop!"

"Anja!" she heard again, but it was off, it wasn't Bishop's voice.

"Anja, open your eyes!" the voice was familiar and comforting, and she wanted to see his face but she didn't know how. Her eyes were open, what did he want her to do?

"Anja!"

She sat up with a gasp of air that she didn't really need and found herself surrounded by Rob's arms.

"Shh, it's alright, I've got you." He said as he stroked her hair.

Anja looked around and noticed she was in her bedroom at home. For a moment, just a brief flicker of time, she wanted to push away the arms that were around her, because for just an instant they felt all wrong. Almost as soon as the thought entered her mind she brushed it away and grabbed onto Rob to pull him closer.

"What happened?" she asked after a moment to catch her breath.

Rob rubbed a soothing circle on her back. "You started thrashing 'round and ya called out in a panic." He pulled back some. "Nightmare?" he asked.

Anja shook her head. "No actually, it was perfect, everything I thought I wanted." She was human, and had a family with a man she loved.

She shook her head. "But it wasn't real."

Rob frowned and Anja reached up to place a hand on his cheek. "This is real, you're real." She shook her hair, blond locks falling into her face. "Perfect isn't real, messy is, and we're messy." She said and he smiled, a little uncertainly.

"Alright now?" he asked as she leaned back, putting a little space between them.

Anja smiled and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I'm fine, as long as you're here."

Rob smiled, that soft smile that she liked to think was only for her. "Got nowhere else to be." He said.

Anja wasn't sure what her dream was about, or what it was supposed to mean. Maybe it meant nothing at all. What she did know, the one thing she was sure of, is the man sitting in front of her. The one that never failed to stand by her, even when he thought she was dead wrong, she always knew she had his support.

Perfect isn't real. Messy is real.

And if there is one thing that her relationship with Rob is, whatever it may be, it's messy.


End file.
